


Falling Again

by orphan_account



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: But character death?, Cringe, I still have the scar, It really hurt, My friend stabbed me over this lol, Not Really Character Death, Other, Poor Dipper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-03 01:21:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10956744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Things went down differently at the portal





	1. Chapter 1

Dipper desperately gripped at the wall behind him, trying to hold on to something stable, lest the gravity suddenly switch towards the portal, but nothing was there. His eyes were fixed on his sister, who held onto the metal stand as if her life depended on it, which it seemed like and it probably had. One hand was wrapped under a platform used to hold a button, the other was up in the air, ready to fall on the button at any time. Her legs wrapped around the bottom of the stand. Mabel glanced at the three people in the room for conformation, a hint. Worst of all, she was crying.   
“He’s lying!” Dipper yelled, glancing at his uncle, or who he had thought was his uncle at the least. He looked back at Mabel. “Shut it down now!”  
“Grunkle Stan…” Mabel shut her eyes tightly as she released her grip, letting her arms rise to the air along with the rest of herself, “I trust you…”  
“Mabel!” The boy yelled again. “We’re all- “  
The old man sighed. “Finally,” he whispered. Not the yelling of the boy, nor the sound of the machine or the wind could stop anyone from hearing those words. Everything became quiet. Mabel opened her eyes and looked doubtfully at her great uncle.   
“M... Mr. Pines?” A painfully sad voice rose from the other side of the room. Soos. He had done nothing but try to be helpful the moment he walked into the store. He loved the old man like a father. Now everything changed. He didn’t know what to believe. “What do you, mean, by, I mean?”  
“I said- “  
Mabel suddenly gasped as a metal pole, once attached to the portal, flew through her stomach. Her eyes widened as blood poured from the openings upwards unto the ceiling and then rolled unconsciously, following the trail of blood. Her body loosened as if she was asleep and nothing more.  
Dipper pushed himself off the wall towards his sister. “Mabel!” He yelled. “NOOO!” He barely touched her toe before he was caught and pulled back by his leg.   
“Kid! Don’t, please! Trust me!” He recognized the voice. Stan. He didn’t turn around, he didn’t need to.  
“Why should I? Let me go!” He kicked at his cheek. “Get off me! Let me get to my sister!” He kicked again and again, bruising Stan’s face.   
“Dipper please! I didn’t mean for things to go down like this, I’m- I’m sorry! You want me to bring Mabel back? I can’t, please, but I can stop you,” Kick, Stan grunted in pain, but continued, “I care about you guys! I…I love…Dipper please!”   
Dipper finally looked back at Stan. He had tears running up his forehead and unto his glasses. He turned away as Dipper looked back, only making him angrier. He kicked at Stan’s glasses, causing them to shatter and fall off. Stan yelled out in pain as a broken glass shard made it into his eye. He released Dipper’s foot to hold his eye, only for a split-second. But Dipper seized the opportunity and pushed himself up off Stan’s hand with his own foot, he grabbed Mabel’s leg and climbed up to his sister, holding her closely. “No, no, no…” He whispered as he curled up next to her head, still holding her.  
“Dipper! That’s too close to the portal!” He took his hand off his closed, bleeding eye, and grabbed at the air, trying to reach Dipper. Stan let go of the pipe attached to the wall, the only thing keeping him safe, and dove to the twins.   
“Mr. Pines! Stop!” Soos yelled from the other side of the room. He pushed himself off the wall behind him. “Don’t touch them!”  
“Stan…” Dipper whispered, tired, “don’t…”   
“Soos! That’s too-!”  
One  
Suddenly, everything became white and silent. Dipper’s grip loosened on Mabel. He couldn’t scream or yell or anything. He didn’t see anything or hear anything, and gazed into absolute whiteness as he felt his limbs being ripped apart and his sister with them.


	2. Chapter 2

Dipper slowly and painfully opened his eyes to see…nothing. Whiteness, as he saw before, but this time it was real. This time he knew he was awake. His head spun in a million directions. He struggled to get on his feet, and once he did, he wrapped his arms around his stomach and leaned forward, as if he was about to throw-up. His stomach turned from dizziness and exhaustion, not that he could remember why he was either of those things. He slowly put one arm in front of him and he walked around, feeling for a wall.   
“Mabel…” He muttered, although he wasn’t sure why. He had a hint of a memory of yelling the same name, but that seemed of a thousand years. Soon he found a wall, and slouched against it. But he refused to sit down, for fear that he would never want to get up again. He lifted his head. What was this place? How was he supposed to get home? Where was home?  
What was home?  
He looked around. A thousand questions surged through his mind, but he had little answers. “Mabel…” Little by little, he remembered what lead up to the white room. He panicked. Little by little, he remembered his summer. He froze. He started to remember his family. “Oh, my god…” He muttered under his breath, pushing himself off the wall and into an unknown direction.  
“Soos?” He shouted. He started to remember the cheerful Handyman. He was there. At the portal in the basement. He tried to help Dipper. All he has ever done was try to help.   
“Mabel!” He remembered. And with remembrance of his sister, he felt pain. “Soos! Guys!” He spun in circles and ran forward and backward, he ran from wall to wall, and he shouted. “Mabel! Soos! S-Stan! Guys, I’m sorry!” But he didn’t know what he was apologizing for, no matter how hard he tried to remember. He looked forward. A tiny red light awaits at the end of the room. He took a few steps towards it, shouting along the way for his lost family members. Until someone yelled back.   
“Mommy!” It was familiar but he didn’t remember it. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere it once. “Daddy! Sissy!” It yelled loudly, yet softly at the same time. The voice created a whole range of emotions for Dipper, everything but anything happy. “You lost, Pine Tree?” He was behind him. Pine Tree? Dipper grit his teeth.   
“Bill!” Dipper turned around to face Bill. He had nothing to use against him. He was hopeless. Dipper took a few steps back before hitting his head and falling to the ground. He looked up to see that Bill was gone, only to reappear behind him.   
“Waho-ho-ho! Slow down there, you’re going to get yourself killed,” Dipper turned around and started pushing and pulling himself with his legs and arms towards the red light, “you might do that anyway but first, let’s have some fun here, eh Pine Tree? Whadya’ say?”   
“You!” Dipper gasped. “Stay back!”   
“Awe, whatsa matter? Not happy to see me?” Bill floated in the same place, his hands laying on his hips, staring at Dipper. Dipper pushed himself to his feet, turned around, and ran towards the light, looking back to see it Bill was following him. He wasn’t. Somehow, it didn’t seem to Dipper as if he was running. The room just seemed to be moving backward. The light got closer and closer and Bill got farther and farther. Suddenly, he was outside, as if he just appeared there. But this wasn’t in any way the Gravity Falls he knew.  
The sky and clouds were tainted blood red, colored bubbles of all sizes flew across streets and into houses, houses that were falling apart and rotting. The grass all around seemed to be dead and flattened, some places there was no grass, just patches of dirt. Sometimes, a weird flower of some sort would be growing in the same spot. Potholes and cracks covered the faded road. Monsters and video game characters walked and ran freely, most likely looking for something to destroy. Screams and cries could be heard from all around.   
“I…I don’t…” Dipper started, he looked around at Gravity Falls. Nothing was the same. He barely recognized anything. “How long was I out?” He asked himself softly as he walked to a nearby house with the doors and windows ripped out. The interior was a mess. Paint faded and was peeling off on the outside. What happened? Bill answered.  
“Oh, about 524 years maybe? I don’t know, I lost track of time myself.”   
Dipper franticly looked back at Bill. “What?!”  
“Wa-ho!” Bill laughed. “Don’t get so emotional kid! About 10 minutes, tops. It’s been some boring 10 minutes too. You’re the only one who fights back. And you’re a kid! Priceless!”  
Dipper looked down, leaning his hands against the broken window. The side of his arm dug into a shard of broken glass on the edge of the window. It started bleeding, but he didn’t care. The pain somehow stopped him from crying. “Bring them back.” Dipper whispered.  
“What was that Pine Tree?” Bill flew in closer.  
“I said…” he gripped the window harder. Blood poured out of the bottoms of his fingers where the glass had cut. The blood felt good. “Bring. Them. Back!” Dipper swung at Bill with everything he had, knowing he would miss. Bill disappeared only to reappear right behind him. Bill said nothing as Dipper fell to the ground only to shoot back up again, this time a stick was held in his hand. He swung the stick at Bill horizontally, but he phased through it, or the stick phased through him. He turned around as result of the missed blow and felt Bill push him back down. He hit his shoulder on a rock, near the same place that was cut open by the broken glass.   
Blood flew out of the open wound along with a stray piece of glass left inside. Dipper yelled out in pain, he brought his other hand up to cover the side of his arm as he wiggled around on the grass. “You know,” Bill sighed, “this isn’t funny. It’s kinda pathetic, even for you Pine Tree.”   
Dipper pushed himself up, wobbling a bit in place, his right hand was on his arm, blood oozed from the cracks between his fingers, not quickly, but it was there. He clenched his left fist and glared at Bill, yet he didn’t do anything.   
Bill grabbed a note, as it appeared, out of thin air, and pointed it in Dipper’s direction. Dipper inched forward and stretched his arm out as far as he could. He grabbed the note and unfolded it the best he could. He looked at Bill once more before mumbling the letter to himself out loud 

I never wanted you or your sister to be hurt in this. I really do lo   
As much as it pains me to say it I love you guys. This was the last way I   
thought I could do it, even this didn’t work.   
I hope Bill keeps one of his promises and gets this to you while you’re   
alive.   
P.S- I know you probably hate me, and for good reasons, but I am and   
forever will be your Grunkle uncle

“Why?” Dipper looked up, but Bill had left. He spun around, twice. No Bill. “Fine” He growled, “just give me a weird and concerning note from Stan and just, just LEAVE!” He turned around. “Well, where is he? Did you-did you,” He walked in a random direction and yelled out, “did you KILL him? Where’s Soos and Windy and the other’s…where’s Ma, what was Stan talking about?” He turned around and walked forward. He closed his eyes, and at that moment, tears he never knew where there started to fall. He yelled into nothingness. “Where’s my Grunkle?!”   
A hand fell upon his shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

Dipper refused to turn around or open his eyes. He was tired and at this point didn’t care the fate. “Whatever you do, do it quickly, okay?” His plea was taken into heart. Dipper was quickly turned around and pulled into a hug. Cold skin and steal met Dipper’s bare arm. Not that he mined. He guessed the steal had been a gun. Long hair draped around his shoulders and stuck to his arms, half because the hair was already damp, half because of the blood that was still flowing from Dipper’s shoulder.   
“Dude, you’re crying and bleeding,” Wendy’s mere voice comforted Dipper. He let out a pitiful laugh.  
“Yeah,” he answered, the sound softened by Wendy’s shirt, “yeah, guess I am.”   
The two stood in silence for two seconds while Wendy held Dipper in embrace before Dipper lunged forward, wrapping the teen in a hug of his own. Somehow knocking off Wendy’s gun as well, not that she minded. The pair stumbled backward, but remained upright. “I missed you a lot”   
“Yeah?” It was Wendy’s turn to let out the same pitiful laugh. “I missed you a lot too, goober.” Wendy sighed and pulled Dipper away to see his face. She was smiling, strands of her red, dirty, damp hair stuck to her forehead. She wore a sleeve of her flannel as a bandana, the rest was tied around her waist. Despite her condition, Wendy was glowing, her cheeks red, her eyes lit up brighter than any star, a Band-aid lay upon her forehead. Only problem, she wasn’t smiling anymore.  
“Dipper, you’re bleeding. Like, a lot. What-?” She looked down at both her hands, her right was covered in blood. “My god,” Wendy chuckled nervously and looked at Dipper’s arm. “Sit down Dip-stick, I need to clean you up,” She broke into a full out laughter as the two sat down. She ripped off a piece of the remaining sleeve on her flannel and used it to mop up blood on Dipper’s arm, she proceeded to do the same thing with blood on Dipper’s forehead that he had no idea about. “You’re like, 12, man, don’t get into hardcore fights just yet,” She chuckled again.  
So did Dipper. “Too late.”   
Wendy stopped mopping up the little blood that was left on Dipper’s arm and stared at him. “Dude, I was joking. What happened?” She put the ‘rag’ down and dug through her pocket.   
Dipper sighed. “Well, it’s a long story. Where did you get that?” Dipper asked just as Wendy pulled out a fresh Band-aid.  
“Went to the shack before I came looking for you or other people I knew or something,” She opened the package and placed the Band-aid on Dipper’s wound, smoothing it out with her fingers. “Speaking of,” she dug in her pocket again, pulling out a Band-aid for Dipper’s forehead, “the shack is miles away from here. I was, like, looking for you. Where were you?”   
“Heh…” Dipper whispered as Wendy smoothed out another Band-aid, this time on Dipper’s forehead, “Long story,” Dipper said. Wendy frowned as Dipper started to get up. She grabbed his arm.   
“Long story doesn’t cover it, sit down, tell me. We aren’t leaving until I know what’s going on,” Dipper sighed, but sat down anyway.   
“Well, I guess it all started…at the beginning of summer maybe?”   
Wendy sat quietly and nodded as Dipper told her everything important that happened over the summer. Bill, the portal, the “white room”. Somehow it felt nice just to sit down and tell someone everything. All the secretes of Gravity Falls he had kept to himself and his sister all summer. Of course, she had been with him on some adventures, but she didn’t know everything (like the clone incident that Dipper expects to keep a secret). And the best part was, Wendy listened, and she believed him. How could you not with everything going around anymore? Surprisingly, the story didn’t take too long. Nothing changed, they weren’t attacked, it was kinda peaceful. Except for the constant fear that remained in the back of Dipper’s mind, telling him his friends and family were all dead. Except for that.  
“Wow,” Wendy laughed, “what a day. Wait, what about your family and Soos? Any idea where they might be? I mean, they were at the portal,” Dipper’s face became visibly red, and he started stuttering. “Woah, dude, you don’t need to…you look like you’re about to throw up, are you ok?” Dipper chuckled lightly. The truth of the matter was that he did want to throw up, but Wendy need to know. He opened his mouth then immediately closed it.   
“You know what, dude, if they are alive, it’s ok. Are they alive?”  
“More or less…” He said, just a little too loud. Why was he so worked up?  
“I…. don’t know what that means but okay!”  
“I don’t know where Soos and Stan are,” Dipper quickly said, “I have a note from Stan, otherwise nothing and…at the portal…Mabel,” He looked at Wendy’s face. She was obviously worried already. Why would he need to add to that unnecessarily? “She got sucked in the portal.”  
Wendy smiled sympathetically. “Thanks for telling me.”  
Dipper laughed loudly and nervously. “Yeah!”   
“I know it’s hard but, we can get them back, we just need to get to the Mystery Shack and work out a plan,” she held out her hand to pull Dipper up with her. He grabbed it and they both stood up, hand in hand. “There’s still hope,” She winked and let go of Dipper, walking alone along the road.   
“Yeah,” Dipper replied, tugging at his hat, “still hope…” He quickly caught up with Wendy and the two walked, side by side, into the town of madness.


	4. Chapter 4

Wendy guided Dipper to the Mystery Shack, dodging monsters along the way. Nothing in the town was the same, even for Wendy, who came from this way. The buildings sat in the same place, sure, but they sat more broke down than last time, spray-painted by teens who think they’re cooler than ice by now, sometimes covered in blood, making them almost unrecognizable. People lay on the side of the road trying to mend wounds, or already dead. Others screamed and ran around, driven with madness. Halfway to the Shack they stopped upon seeing an all-too-familiar black, hooded figure laying on the side of the road, unmoving.   
Wendy ran to the teen and knelt beside him, flipping him over slowly to reveal his face. “Robbie…” she gasped. Dipper looked over at the forlorn emo teen laying still as if he was asleep, and believe me, Dipper wanted that to be the case. He wasn’t exactly heartbroken over the death of his enemy, but it’s always kinda sad to see someone you know dead, he didn’t wish death on anybody.   
“I’m sorry,” He placed a hand on Wendy’s shoulder, “he was a friend,”   
“Yeah,” Windy sighed, “maybe not the best, but, yeah.” She slowly stood, arms wrapped around her stomach as if she was about to be sick. She sighed again, her eyes still on Robbie.  
“You…okay?” Dipper questioned awkwardly. Duh, no, she’s not okay you freaking walnut, Dipper thought to himself. He cringed at himself in embarrassment.   
Wendy turned around. A weak smile on her face, a single tear in her eye, and her thumb up to say ‘It’s okay’, while it clearly wasn’t. “I’m cool dude!” She said enthusiastically.  
Dipper, however, frowned and looked to his feet. “Sorry, I know you’re not.”  
“What? No, dude,” Wendy placed both her hands on his shoulder, “it’s really okay.”  
Dipper looked at Wendy, who was smiling, and couldn’t help but smile as well. But his eyes started to gear just behind the teen girl to an unfamiliar monster, floating towards the two, a cruel smile plastered upon its face. He backed from Wendy’s reach and she immediately frowned.   
“Windy?” Dipper yelled, motioning her to look backward. She did. She cried out upon seeing the figure and stumbled backwards, tripping on a rock and falling on the ground. She tried to move herself but she could not stand back up. She franticly pushed herself away with her feet before Dipper grabbed her hand.  
“Run!” He yelled as he yanked Wendy up, steadying her as they ran forward. Wendy looked behind her at the monster, who was flying faster, gaining on them.  
“You look so nicceee…” The monster hissed, its mouth remained unmoving. Wendy cried out again as Dipper moved into a nearby wood. They dodged tree after tree, running. They soon lost the monster, as they had hoped, but they were now lost themselves. In all the rush, the two had forgotten they held hands the whole time, and at the time they realized they still would not let go, almost as if afraid to be ripped away. They didn’t dare to speak as they both feared someone was listening. They had a lot to fear. They walked around for a while, hoping to find a shelter in which they could rest, then plan what their next move was. Somehow, they would find their families, or what was left of them, and they would do it together.   
Dipper sometimes closed his eyes for a second or two, letting Wendy lead the way, and upon opening them expected to be at the shack, sitting on the couch with Mabel or upstairs with Soos, hanging at the register with Wendy or somewhere talking Stan out of stealing something or doing something else illegal, like this was all a bad dream. But he didn’t see that. He was wherever this was, and all he could see were trees. Trees and trees, the occasional rock or weird plaint but mostly trees. All he had for comfort was Wendy, which wasn’t bad, but holding a girl’s hand for so long that wasn’t his sister started to make him feel a bit weird, but he said nothing.  
“Hah!” Wendy yelled out, letting go of Dipper’s had as she rain ahead. “Told you! Mystery Shack!” She turned around to reveal it. The Mystery Shack. A window or plank or two out of shape but it was still as good as they left it. A black car was crashed into the totem pole in front of the shack. One of the government cars.   
“I can’t believe it!” Dipper laughed as he ran towards the shack, arms outstretched as if he expected the house to give him a welcoming hug. “It’s here! Wendy, it…” He turned around, but nothing was there. Just trees and one stray ‘weirdness’ bubble. “Wendy?” Dipper yelled. Thump. He could feel his own heartbeat. He just found Wendy, he suddenly couldn’t stand the thought of losing her.   
Thump. “Wendy?”  
His mind played over the last 5 hours, the portal, Bill, everything. Had it really been just 5 hours? “Windy!”   
“Sorry dude,” laughing, Wendy stepped out of the trees, a nearby bird flew away at the same time. It screamed, almost like a goat. Wendy put her hand to her head and slowed down her laughing. “I found a really cool bird and just ran off, didn’t mean to freak ya, sorry,” She ran to the shack door and tried to open it. Dipper rolled his eyes and followed.  
Wendy kicked and elbowed the door a few times, but couldn’t seem to get it open. Dipper weakly kicked the door. “Yep, it’s stuck,” Dipper conformed. Windy rolled her eyes. She kicked it a few more times before they heard a crack. The door was coming loose.   
“Aha!” Wendy exclaimed. She looked at Dipper. “Dipper, get a running start.”  
“What?”  
“You’re going to break the door down,” Wendy explained slowly, as if she was telling a baby.  
“Why?” Dipper snorted. “You have it halfway open.”  
“Because I want to see if you can do it, tough stuff,” she playfully punched Dipper in the arm, “just try.”  
Dipper rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, your highness,” he said rudely and involuntarily. His face became red once he processed his sentence. He looked at Wendy who gave him a weird look. “Sorry,” The words rolled out of his mouth as he ran to the door. He leaped upon it with all his strength and fell on top of the door, inside the Mystery Shack!   
“All right!” Dipper shot up and pretended to dust off his shoulders. Wendy chuckled.   
“Good job, Dip-stick, now let’s look around,” Wendy walked forward, Dipper followed until he saw a window open and put his arm out to stop Wendy.   
“Wait!” He whispered. “Someone might be in here…”   
Wendy ducked down and touched the ground behind Dipper, ready to strike at someone. “How, how do you know?” She whispered back. Dipper nodded towards the open window, and Wendy stood up. “Geez, Dipper, I used that to get in last time. Band-aid?” She walked forward as if nothing was wrong. “You scared me.”  
“Yeah, but…” Crash  
Wendy crouched back down, startled at the loud noise.   
“You left it open,” Dipper stated.  
Wendy reached behind her back at nothing. “Where did? Uh-oh…” Wendy turned back to Dipper, eyes wide. “When we met!” Dipper remembered, he had somehow knocked her gun off. She turned back ahead as footsteps came towards them. She slowly stood up, picking up a loose wood plank.  
“Wendy, no, wait!” Dipper whisper-yelled. He closed his eyes as the footsteps got closer, then suddenly stop. Dipper waited and could only listen as Wendy took a sharp breath and dropped her weapon.   
“No…way…”


	5. Chapter 5

“No…way...” Wendy laughed. She ran over to the source of the footsteps and collapsed to the ground. “Waddles!”  
Dipper slowly opened his eyes to see Wendy sitting on the ground and laughing as Waddles tromped around her in a circle “Waddles!” Dipper laughed, lunging forward with his arms open. Waddles happily walked into Dippers outstretched arms and sat down. The pig oinked happily and curled in Dipper’s arms just as Dipper wrapped his arms around him, holding him close. Wendy laid down on her stomach, patting Waddles head.  
“How is he still alive? I mean, he’s a pig. I struggled to stay alive for so long.” Wendy questioned.   
“I don’t know…” Dipper answered, his voice was muffled from half floor, half Waddles, “but I don’t care either.”  
“Ugh, man,” Wendy put her hands under her chin and rested her head, “this is the happiest I’ve been in this weird…apocalypse thing since well, I found you,” Wendy chuckled. “Has this little guy been in here the whole time?”  
Dipper held his head up to see Wendy and managed to shrug. “Seems like it, pretty good place to hide out. Hey, how didn’t you see him when you were in here?”  
Wendy shrugged as well, “Maybe he heard someone and was hiding?”  
“Smart pig,” Dipper said. He pets Waddles head as the pig stood back up and walked out of Dipper’s arms. He started making his way to the kitchen as the two looked at him, then each other. They started laughing.   
Instead of checking the shack of food and stuff, the pair spent most of their time talking. It had been a while since they had both seen each other and, boy, did they have a lot to talk about. Occasionally cuddling Waddles as well, as he made his rounds walking around the shack and then going to the living room, walking back in Dipper or Wendy’s lap, then getting back up after a while and doing it all over again. They got up after a bit and ate a bit of food they found set back in the kitchen, although there wasn’t much left, went back to the living room and did it over again.   
They mostly talked about plans to save family and friends, and what they would do after it was all said and done, if they found them at all. However, at times they just talked about normal stuff, days passed, stuff that happened before this strange apocalypse. A movie they saw, a funny thing their friend did or said, something cool they saw, but those memories quickly became sour as they realized the cool thing was probably gone and all their friends were missing, or dead.   
Night time came, but the two couldn’t sleep. They had too much on their minds. So, they talked, and when they had nothing to talk about, they checked supplies, and when supplies were low they raided stores or houses. This was just the way life went for a week. Two. Three. This was life.   
Chapter Six  
Dipper gathered all he could in a bookbag that Wendy had gave him. Canned food, notebooks, crackers, cookies, anything food related that wasn’t bad by now. Everything but the notebooks. They were meant for games the two would play, keeping score. It helped them take their minds off the whole thing.   
It had been a solid month since they found the Mystery Shack. And Waddles. They protected Waddles, even though sometimes it seemed silly. Protecting a pig. Especially when you’re so low on food. But he was special to Dipper, pretty much the only part he had of his sister. She would want Waddles alive and that’s how Dipper was going to keep him, he wouldn’t let go of that. Not this time.   
Three times within the month, nearby hungry people broke in the shack upon hearing Waddles and tried to kill him. Dipper and Wendy were always there, one or the other, and they would work their best to keep the people away from Waddles. Waddles himself would help, biting or kicking, setting himself free. Not exactly the dumbest pig in the world, in fact he was kinda smart. Even away from home, humans were the biggest threat.  
Dipper zipped the heavy bag and swung it over his shoulders. He was use to the red mark the bag would make on his shoulder, use to the stinging and rubbing it brought. It was almost always this heavy. They had enough food at home for at least two more days, but who knows how much longer this whole thing would go on? Only Dipper had the idea, Bill would not get bored nor would he die. Maybe this would go on forever.   
He walked towards the exit, satisfied with his find, when a figure tugged at his bookbag. He turned around to see a man, taller than him but, who here wasn’t? He didn’t recognize the man and stepped backwards.   
“Kid, I saw,” he pointed at the bookbag, “food. You have food. A lot. Right?” Dipper slowly nodded and backed up some more. The man grimaced under his foggy glasses. He fell to his knees and clapped his hands together. “Please! I need it!”  
Dipper hesitatingly reached over to his bag. “How much?”  
“All of it,” The man cried. Dipper backed up once more and took his hands away from his bag.   
“Whoa man. No, no. I need this food too. We. I need it for my friends too, I’m…I’m sorry. You need to find another store, I- “  
“Please!” The man inched forward on his knees. “I have kids, young kids, they’re hungry!” He inched forward once more, but Dipper didn’t move. Something was, wrong. He didn’t recognize this man, and he knew almost everyone in Gravity Falls.   
“I’ve never seen you in Gravity Falls before…” He stepped forward. The man pushed himself up, wrapping his arms around his body.   
“Well, I…visiting. My mother.” The man pleaded. “About a week before this he- “  
“I would have seen you,” Dipper moved forward and the man moved back. “Afraid of a little kid?” He scoffed.  
“No, it’s just- “  
“Your eyes,” Dipper interrupted, “I need to see your eyes. I’ve never seen them.” Dipper started walking forward, backing the strange man up to a wall. He fell back, knocking his glasses off. As Dipper moved backwards, he knew he was right. The man’s eyes were tainted yellow. Dipper backed himself to the exit. Calmly, he turned around, saying, “You can’t trick me like that. I’m smarter. Shape-shift into someone I know.”  
Bill’s voice came from behind him, “Hmmm. You’re smarter than you seem Pine Tree. I’ve got a ga- “  
“Not interested,” Dipper continued walking towards the exit, unshaken. He clutched his bookbag, ready to run, before Bill appeared in front of him.  
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re in a hurry. Where ya going?”   
“Home,” Dipper replied, walking forward and under Bill. He quickly let his instincts take over and mumbled ‘excuse me’, then remembered he was dealing with a demon. Bill tried to hold in laughter. Embarrassed, Dipper tightened his grip on the bookbag straps and moved forward quickly. Bill appeared in front of Dipper again, this time lower, blocking his path.   
“To an empty shack?” He questioned.   
Dipper sighed, “It’s not empty, I have,” He paused, his face grew hot. “What did you do?” He yelled, and swiftly moved past Bill, running towards the exit. Suddenly he found himself in the shacks attic, where he stayed with his sister. Two figures lay in the bed and for a second, only a second, Dipper thought it was both him and Mabel. That it was himself repaying a past memory to get himself through the day, as he often did. But this was not the case.  
The blankets around to figures were stained with red. The smells almost brought him to his knees. In his bed, a mess of a few stay orange-ish hairs lay at the top. In Mabel’s, a pink ear sat on the blanket. Dipper closed his eyes tightly and reopened them to see Bill. He was back at the store. He stared at Bill’s eye, breathing heavily. He let only two tears slip from his eyes and run down his check   
“What did you do?” Dipper mumbled, trying to act brave, but he couldn’t.   
“What did you do? They didn’t have a chance, and you left them? Some good-guy you are. Still, I’m glad. Ha-ha, it was amazing! You really should have been there! But that would spoil it of course. Wendy, well she screamed and screamed. I think at one point she begged?” Dipper looked at the floor and covered his ears, turning away from Bill, although it didn’t help. He still heard it all no matter how much he wanted to shut it out. “The pig- well, the pig didn’t do much, he’s a pig. He tried to get away but, well, he’s a pig,” Bill laughed a sickening, cruel, and loud laugh.  
“Why me? Why pick on me?” Dipper turned around, enraged. “I mean, I’m only a kid! This is…crap! Why don’t you find another person or- or not do this, I mean-?” Dipper trailed off, looking at Bill who suddenly stopped laughing.   
“I think it’s funny dumbnut.”   
“I don-don’t think it’s funny.” Dipper shook, his hands formed into fists.   
“Duh. I wouldn’t in your shoes.”   
Dipper grit his teeth. “I think…I have to try…” he whispered.   
“Huh?”  
“Even though, I’m going to lose! In what world is this ok! In what world is this funny! What world would I be in if I didn’t fight back!” He yelled out and jumped at Bill, his arm coming towards Bill’s eye, the one place Dipper knew that, if he hit, it would bring Bill to his knees. But that never happened. Bill laughed again, grabbing Dipper’s wrist and looking him straight in his eyes.   
“Kid,” he yelled out, a bit unnerved by the look in the young boy’s eye, a look that had shown no fear, but he shook it off, “you’re in my world now!”  
He slammed Dipper unto the wall as hard as he could. The boy could not, and would not, do anything to stop it. He felt his limbs being ripped off for a second time and opened his eyes, only to be greeted with the familiarity of absolute whiteness.


	6. Chapter 6

He couldn’t open his eyes. Couldn’t bear to see the white room again. He was there, he knew it. He saw it. It was what happened last time he was knocked out, and if there was anything Bill wanted to do, it was make Dipper think he was going crazy, and this just might have pushed him over the edge if he didn’t expect it. But he did, Dipper knew he was smarter than Bill needed him to be for this to work. Was it real? Were they really gone? It couldn’t be real. Bill wouldn’t…but that wasn’t true. Bill would, and did. If he wanted them dead, he would do it. They were dead.  
Dipper felt the whiteness fade away and be replaced with the regular darkness that came with reality. He was outside already, on the ground, curled as if he was sleeping. Suddenly, it was not some mysterious force that held Dipper’s eyes shut, it was himself. He could move now, if he pleased, yet he refused. He heard someone walking towards him, stopping near his face. Dipper slowly opened his eyes.  
“Soos?” The words came slowly, as if they were not his own. Soos smiled.   
“Sup, hambone? Whatcha doing out here?” He put down something he had in his hands. He sat down next to Dipper in an Indian style.   
“I-I don’t know,” Dipper answered wearily, “where is here?”   
Soos laughed. “Far away from where we should be which is, uhh, not here.”  
Dipper chuckled at Soos. Fun loving Soos who was always there. He found him. Something suddenly started to move across Dipper’s chest. It stopped right above his face. A pink, wet, nose touched Dipper’s nose and he saw two eyes staring down at him.   
“Waddles?”  
“Yeah,” Soos answered, “found him waddle-ing around. Ha. Pun.” Dipper laughed and pat Waddles head as the pig walked off. “Haha, weird. I mean, pigs, right? But dude, you look dead. Sit up,” Soos held out his hand for the boy. Dipper grabbed Soos’s hand and pulled himself up. He looked around, and then at Soos. Everything was sort of the same, except there were less people running around and screaming.   
“Soos! I’m, like, really, REALLY, happy to see you. And Waddles. You guys are alive! I can’t believe it! Ummm, but, when did all this start?” Dipper laughed anxiously, shoving his hands in his pockets.   
Soos put a finger to his chin and looked up, as if he was lost in thought. Two seconds later he looked back down at Dipper. “20 minutes ago?”   
“20 minutes?!” Dipper slowly walked backwards, mumbling unintelligible denials. Even Waddles saw that something was wrong and tilted his head to Dipper.   
“Umm, can you explain some stuff here? I’m kind of lost.” Soos explained.   
“And I’m back at the beginning!” Dipper snapped, suddenly angry at Soos, who had done nothing wrong. He was angry at the man for not understanding, and angry at Bill. “What happened, Soos,” he stomped over to Soos who slowly lost his cheerful smile, “was that Wendy and I had a plan. And you’re not helping.”  
Soos ignored the hateful remark. “Wendy’s alive?”  
“Was,” Dipper called out, he walked forward slowly, “then Bill came! And you,” Dipper pulled himself back with all his strength, knowing very well that if he was there he might have slapped Soos. For what, though, he didn’t know. “I don’t know if she is alive anymore! I mean, I assume, because Waddles is alive.”  
He pointed at the pig and upon hearing his name, Waddles stepped forward to Dipper, keeping his eyes on him. “Oink?”   
“You’ve lost me Dipper,” Soos chuckled nervously, trying to make light of the mood.  
“I wish,” Dipper mumbled. Soos frowned as Dipper’s face got red. He slapped his forehead. “I’m so sorry Soos,” he forced the words out like he was saying the hardest word in the universe, “I just became…sorry,” Even his apologies sounded rude. What happened? “I don’t care who’s alive or what’s around but something happened and now, I, like, Soos, I just can’t look at you right now.” He turned and started walking off.   
“But…” Soos started to whine. Dipper knew it was wrong to hurt Soos but he couldn’t help it. “Did I do something?” Dipper turned around. Soos looked as if he was ready to cry. I wouldn’t blame him, Dipper thought. He walked towards Soos, ready to say he was sorry again, but would that really change anything?  
“I mean, I just found you dude. Let’s…let’s go find Mr. Pines and Wendy and Mabel. Everyone. Don’t be mad,” Soos smiled again.  
“Oink!” Waddles agreed.  
But Soos’s calm words only made Dipper angrier. He walked towards Soos and Waddles. Calm down, calm, Dipper thought to himself over and over. He stopped at Soos’s face, gazing into his eyes. He was scared. This was wrong. Dipper opened his mouth to apologize once more, but that wasn’t what happened.  
“And I’m taking the pig!” He picked up Waddles, who happily snuggled against his side where he rested. Dipper sighed and lowered his voice, turning from Soos. “You can come with me, but, I don’t want to talk.” He walked towards an old road, leaving a confused Soos to figure out what he wanted to do. In the end, he followed, doing what Dipper told him to do. They walked in silence as screams from the town died down as they walked further, and so did Dipper’s thoughts.


	7. Chapter 7

They walked in silence as screams got louder, then quieter, as more people disappeared and the ones that were left hid inside houses or stores. Soon, nothing but a few distant screams and sounds of running or burning could be heard, and the occasional oink of Waddles. It was worse than last time, Dipper concluded. Not because of the state of houses or anything, more houses and buildings stood upright, only with a few holes and cracks, faded paint and sometimes the roof was caved in, but otherwise fine. There were less and less people up and about, even on the streets. No one knew where they went, they just went.   
Soos cleared his throat once or twice, but mostly stayed silent. Dipper felt guilty for treating Soos the way he did. He had only wanted to help, and he didn’t do anything in the first place. It was as if Dipper had no choice in the way he was acting, he was aware of it, sure, but he didn’t want to do it. He was sad, up until he turned around and saw Soos. The sight of him made Dipper mad. Soos was frowning, looking at the ground for the most part. Two times Dipper looked around, he caught Soos looking at him, but he quickly looked back down after that.   
He didn’t hate Soos, in fact, he really, really liked Soos, and hated to see him sad. Dipper was just mad for some reason. Soos didn’t do anything wrong. Just ask a simple question. One that anyone would and should probably ask in the middle of a weird apocalypse. ‘What’s going on?’ The question itself didn’t make Dipper angry, and Soos hadn’t said it any other way. No matter how hard he tried to stop being mad at Soos, it didn’t work. He remembered himself snapping at Wendy a while back, but it wasn’t this bad. He just shrugged it off.   
Dipper found the woods that lead over to the Mystery Shank. Soos almost missed it, walking forward because he was staring at the ground. Dipper grabbed his arm and directed him into the wood, but let go almost immediately after he touched him. Dipper sighed and walked on. Soon they arrived at the Mystery Shack, but it was more broken down than last time. Wood was rotting and falling off, the sign for the shack was almost all gone, excepting S, E, R, Y, A, K, that is. The roof was caved in, caused by the falling letters, Dipper guessed.  
Soos sighed and Waddles made a grunting noise as Dipper walked up to the porch. He set Waddles down on the broken porch swing as he looked inside the shack. The door lay flat down, the knob was ripped off and thrown someplace, indicating someone broke the door down and the door wasn’t just down because it fell off or something. Someone might be inside.   
“Welp, inside we go,” Soos stepped forward, but Dipper put his arm out to stop him.   
“Woah,” Dipper whispered, “see the door?” Soos nodded. “Someone might be in there,” He suddenly couldn’t stand the thought of someone losing Soos. What was with him?  
“Great. Then I’ll go in first to make sure there’s not so you’re safe,” He walked forward, but was stopped by Dipper’s still outstretched arm.   
“You might get hurt. Just, grab something first.”  
Soos beamed. “You care? You were, I mean, I don’t want to say it directly but you were really mean, back there. Are you still mad or something?”   
“No, Soos. And yes, I care, mad or not, you’re my friend,” Dipper smiled. He felt better after being able to say it. He didn’t even have to force himself to. What was with this? “Now get something to protect yourself.”  
Soos nodded once and bend down, ripping a loose board off the porch. “Ready.”  
Dipper nodded and looked at Waddles who sat still on the broken swing. He picked up a metal pole that sat behind the pig. “Waddles?” He asked, as if the pig could answer. “Stay.”  
Waddles nodded once as if he understood and then left to go under the porch. Dipper rolled his eyes and smiled. He looked back at Soos and nodded again. “On three,” He looked back to the dark shack and inched closer. “One,” He took one step in the door way of the shack, Soos beside him. “Two,” He inched his foot inside the dark room and took a deep breath, ready to venture in the unknown. “Three”


	8. Chapter 8

Soos smashed in the window to Food-n-More, the same store Dipper raided before he came back to the beginning. The was less food on the shelves and some of the shelves were empty and tipped over, standing against walls and doors or laying on the floor. Other people have been here before.  
“Follow after me,” Dipper slid through the busted window easily, he didn’t mind the cuts the broken bits of glass gave him. The door was chained shut and some monster was in front of it. The two decided not to take the risk.   
“I- I can’t…” Soos laughed tensely.   
“Too…big?” Dipper snapped. He slapped his forehead and turned around upon hearing what he had said. “I’m sorry. I really am. God, what is with me?”  
“It…it’s alright! It’s ok,” Soos lied. Dipper hadn’t told him about what he figured out. About how he was mean when he wasn’t inside the shack. It sounded crazy to a random person. “I’ll stay out here.”  
Dipper ignored Soos and walked on. As soon as the two got to the shack they found that nobody was inside, but almost all the food was stolen. They brought Waddles inside and made plans to get some more food. There were other stores closer to the shack but Dipper wanted to go here. He made the argument that there was more food here, but he should have known better, nothing was the same.   
Dipper had, however, told Soos what Bill had done, and asked Soos to forgive him for yelling at him. He did, saying he would probably snap too. The forgiving only made Dipper feel guiltier. The two decided after a while to put their plan into action. Leaving Waddles at home, the two set off for the store, then, like magic, Dipper started hating Soos again. This time Dipper knew it wasn’t just him being mad, it didn’t make sense.   
He walked through the store cautiously, as if he was waiting for someone to jump out at him. Specifically, Bill. Dipper grabbed a basket and place a few ready to eat canned and boxed foods from every shelf. There wasn’t as much as last time, but it was enough to get them to week two or three at least. The store seemed emptier this time. Well, it was last time, but here it seemed like it had been left alone for years.   
But it hadn’t been years. Dipper shrugged off the thought and continued to the broken window, carrying the basket of food. He finally found his way but was greeted by an unpleasant sight. Absolute whiteness. He wasn’t expecting it this time.   
Dipper growled. “Oh no…” He threw the basket of food down and ran towards the window. He leapt through the window, hitting the hard ground on his side. Grunting in pain, Dipper pushed himself up and steadied himself on a wall. He winced as he pressed his shoulder and the wall. He looked up at a glowing, faraway red light. He ran towards it, trying to hold himself up and off the wall. He glanced back only once to see how far he made it. The window and store were still there. He could go back.  
He didn’t. He kept running and limping forward. Suddenly, he stopped. Right in front of the opening. The same scenery befell him. Broken houses, tore up road, dead grass, and weird plants. He was back. Back at the beginning. It hadn’t even been a full day, yet he was back? Dipper fell to the ground, weak from exhaustion and frozen with fear, ready for whoever came next.


	9. Chapter 9

Dipper stumbled to a tree near the Mystery Shack. He could see the shack clearly, more broken down than last time, as it always seemed, but did he really want to see what was inside? No, no, Dipper thought tiredly, tomorrow, tomorrow. He sat under the tree, his eyes set itself on the shack. The sign had completely fallen. The windows were broken. The wall had a giant hole inside of it, covered by a purple cloth. Somebody was inside, and he didn’t want to deal with that. It was early morning. Whoever was inside was probably asleep. Dipper had walked around Gravity Falls a whole day and night, without rest. Now it was time.   
The narrowed his eyes. He knew this was the same shack, even with no sign to prove it. The same shack he had spent the whole summer at with his sister. So many memories. Some good, some bad, all of them were precious. He remembered the day before the portal, the last normal or semi-normal day he had. He remembered the portal, what Stan had said, how he said it. What did it mean? Does it matter? He remembered Mabel, Wendy, Soos, everyone he knew he lost. He remembered Toby, Pacifica, Thompson, the people who were a part of his life that he didn’t think about often. Where were they now? Does that matter?  
Did anything?  
Dipper thought himself to sleep, dreaming of happier times at home and then at the shack over summer. Upon waking up, he felt a died stream of tears down his cheeks and his vision was blurred. Even so, he could see a pair of legs standing in front of him. He blinked once, to get rid of the blur, and he saw them clearly. He slowly looked up to see a smiling face staring at him.  
It was the face of a girl. She had shortish black hair that draped over her shoulders and bright hazel eyes that seemed to shine in the light. She wore a faded galaxy tee-shirt and ripped baggy jeans. Faded as well. She looked young but not as young as Dipper. She couldn’t have been over 25.  
“Hey, I’m Alice, I’ve seen you around, once or twice,” She extended her hand to Dipper, who still wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. He looked at the girl’s hand then back up at her eyes. They seemed normal or as normal as anything could be here. He recognized her. At a fair maybe? A visitor to the shack? Whatever. He slowly took Alice’s hand and felt himself being lifted until he stood. He took his hand away and put his hand on top of his…hat? Oh right, he remembered, internally laughing at himself, I have a hat.  
“Yeah,” Dipper nodded wearily. “Lemme guess, you came from there?” He pointed to the purple cover on the shack.   
“Uh-hu. I came here for the first time like, two-thousand years ago. Well, not really, like three months, but you know what I mean.”  
“Yep,” Dipper nodded, he yawned, trying to get himself fully awake. “This whole thing started a day ago?”  
Alice coughed. “Yeah? Don’t you know that?”   
“Nah, I’ve been asleep.”  
Alice looked at the little boy weirdly but shrugged it off. The two were silent for a long time and just looked at each other until Alice spoke up. “So, umm, how do you know-? I mean, like, do you come to the Mystery Shack, or have you before-?” She trailed off, awkwardly poking at the ground with her foot. Someone yelled ‘dearth no legs!’ in the background and the two looked in the direction it came from, but nothing was there. They looked back at each other.   
“This is my home,” Dipper said quickly, as if he rehearsed a million times before, but suddenly shuddered, realizing what he said wasn’t true. “Well, not my home, home, but my, I stayed here for the fir-summer with my sister? It’s, uhh, my uncle-grunkle lives here.”  
“Oh,” Alice looked around, “where’s your sister? And grunkle? If you don’t mind me asking.”  
“They’re- ummm, actually, I don’t know. We got, separated,” It wasn’t untrue with Bill messing up the timelines so much, they could be anywhere by now. Dipper shrugged. “Yeah.”  
Alice smiled sympathetically. “We can find your family hun.”  
Instincts took over. Dipper scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Doubt it…” Alice frowned.  
“Why is that?” Oh no. Without another word, Dipper grabbed Alice’s wrist harshly. She yelped. He jogged to the shack with Alice. His grip on Alice’s wrist loosened as he got closer to the shack. It was working, somehow.   
He sat a very shocked and disoriented Alice on a portion of the shack that wasn’t caved in, then he sat himself above her. “What are you doing?”  
“Oh,” Dipper shrugged, “just thought it would be nice to sit on the porch. By the way, my name is Dipper,” He held his hand next to Alice’s head, expecting her to shake it. Alice turned her head to Dipper and moved her back to the railing. She stared at Dipper’s hand, studying it, and then laughed. She awkwardly shook his hand, with her own facing to the sky.   
“Hi Dipper. Well, you know my name, so…” She sighed happily. Dipper smiled. He was beginning to understand Bill’s tricks, if this was the work of Bill, and how to avoid them. He felt…proud. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time. He let go of Alice’s hand and nodded towards the propped-up door.   
“Have any food? Drinks?”   
“Yeah, I found some meat cans, pears, oh, Pit Cola? I stole some ice and chilled it,” Alice stood up and walked to the door. She pushed the door sideways to reveal an old sheet. Mabel’s. Something turned in his stomach. But he ignored it.   
“Sure,” He followed Alice into the shack and slid the door shut. Alice lead him to the kitchen. Everything was mostly the same. Some meat cans were gone but, they were for the apocalypse so Dipper guessed it was ok. A table stood up with a cooler placed on top of it. Alice reached inside the cooler and pulled out tow sodas, handing one to Dipper. He took the soda and instantly opened it, taking one big swig. It has been a while since he had eaten or drank anything.   
Alice sat herself on the table next to the cooler. She crossed her legs, one on top of the other and propped her left elbow on her leg, resting her chin on her hand. In the right hand, she held the opened Pit Cola. “So, what’s a young boy like you doing sleeping under a tree in the apocalypse?”   
Chapter Eleven  
The two had decided that they wouldn’t talk all the way to the store. Dipper thought, no, he knew that he would say something hurtful to Alice and didn’t want to do it, even if Alice said it was ok. Alice didn’t really want to be quiet, saying the rudeness didn’t sway her, but every time Alice tried to talk, Dipper would ignore her. Eventually she just gave up. Dipper had told Alice everything. She believed him, understood him, just as Wendy had. She had even seen Bill once, looking around the shack.  
They had food at the shack, lots, but Dipper just wanted to see the store. He knew he probably shouldn’t go considering everything that had happened at the store, but something brought him back. He needed to see how destroyed it was this time. It was stupid, but it seemed important to Dipper. He didn’t fight it anymore. He just let whatever happen, happen. Gravity Falls seemed to be emptied out. Through the whole four days of living in the shack, the two had only seen about two humans and one monster.   
This, out of all, Dipper thought, was the weakest and scariest timeline.   
As they approached the store, Dipper had noticed that it almost looked new. As if nothing had ever happened to it. Everything else surrounding was broken down. “You,” he snapped at Alice, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, “please come inside. With me. I don’t want you to end up like Soos. He just…disappeared,” He looked at the window. “I guess you can fit in, unlike him,” He closed his eyes again, unable to control the words coming out of his mouth once again. A cold hand sat upon his shoulder.   
Dipper’s face became red and he instinctively pulled away. “Don’t touch me!” He snapped, without realizing. Alice only smiled sympathetically and timidly laughed.  
“Sorry, I forgot you might not want human contact for a while…at least you had the strength to bring me.”  
Dipper sighed. “I’m the worst…I’m sorry,” His voice shook. He didn’t want to hurt Alice, or didn’t mean to. There was some part of him that liked her pain. Some part that thought it was funny.   
“I know,” Alice replied as she walked over to the window. She struggled to get it open a minute and then swung it open with full force, yet nothing broke. She poked her head through the window. “Dipper?”  
“What?” Dipper growled.  
“The door is open!”   
“What?” He froze. They hadn’t even tried the door. He walked over and grabbed Alice’s wrist, pulling her over to the door. He increased his speed with every step he took, until he was at the door. “What…how-?” Dipper stuttered. He looked behind at Alice, who shrugged and took the lead. They walked into the building together, still holding each other’s hand. Alice squeezed Dipper’s hand lightly for comfort when Dipper stated shaking. Dipper smiled. When he held Wendy’s hand, he felt more like he was protecting her, and she was protecting him. But in this place, Dipper couldn’t protect himself. He was tired, scared, and more depressed than ever. He was back to acting like a little kid, and he couldn’t change that, he wouldn’t.   
“Is this the place? Bill attacked you twice?”   
“Yeah…” Dipper mumbled, looking downwards, “this is the place.” Suddenly, he saw something. He looked up slightly, towards an unmoving object. The bright color pink on its back jumped at him.  
“Why would you want to come back?”  
“I don’t know. Do you see that?” Dipper walked forward and pointed to the object.   
“No,” Alice bent down and squinted, “nothing there, unless you’re talking about the food in which case I- “   
“No, there,” Dipper interrupted, walking towards the object. He saw it better. It was a human. Brown hair covered the shoulders and back, curling at the end. A little blue hair band lay at the top.  
“Dipper, umm, if you want to go see, the object, you have to let go of my hand.” Alice protested.  
“Yeah, yeah, in a minute…” He squinted at the object. I can’t let go now, it must go according to plan. What plan? The thought ran in the back of his head, but he had no answer. He didn’t dwell on it.   
“Dipper, not a minute. Hun, you’re hurting me,” Alice reluctantly followed Dipper. It wasn’t as if she had much of a choice. She tried to free her hand, but Dipper’s grasp hardened. He got closer, faster, he was almost there, his sister, she needed him. “Dipper,” Alice got louder, not as if Dipper could hear her.  
“Yeah, yeah,” Dipper mumbled. He was jogging. He was almost there, her could almost touch her. I’m coming Mabel.  
“Dipper!” Alice stopped in her tracks, stopping Dipper with her. The boy let go, tumbling to the floor. He closed his eyes, hitting the hard ground. He lifted himself up and looked around, but nothing was there. He rubbed at the stone floor, looking for anything out of place, but nothing was there. Dipper started to panic. He had seen Mabel, he knew he did, he wasn’t crazy. “Dipper?” Alice wondered as she walked towards the boy, hesitantly putting her hand on his back. “Let’s go home, this place is getting to you.”   
Dipper growled and shot up, turning around to face Alice. Blood trickled down his lips, which he guessed came from falling to the floor. Alice held her arm as if she was protecting herself from Dipper. As if he might kill her. Which was the case.  
“Bill!” Dipper panted. “He tricked me! I-I saw her, I know! I! Do-do you know where we are?” He had pieced everything together. It was too late to leave now. All he could do was talk.  
“The store?”  
“Yes! A-Far enough away from the shack, and I brought you with me. Here, and into the store, I-I thought I was protecting you from the same fate as Soos. I thought it would change! But it didn’t. I’m sorry, Alice, I,” He paused, looking at Alice who only nodded. “I’m the one who wants to hurt you and I might have if I hadn’t figured it out and…and, done something!” Alice took a step backwards and took a deep breath. Her breath shook as she exhaled, like a child would when they were keeping themselves from crying, or they just stopped crying.   
“I know why I saw Mabel. I, wanted to get to her so bad, and I know why I wouldn’t let you go, to make you stop.” His voice shook. Bill was coming soon, and he was going to kill them both. Dipper couldn’t stop him. He was going to kill Alice first. Maybe he wouldn’t kill Dipper. No, he would put him in the white room again, bring him to the beginning of another screwed up timeline and do it again. He just had to tell his story, calm Alice. Somehow, he was going to save her. He just needed a plan.   
“I would end up blaming you for the reason I couldn’t get to Mabel. I’m sorry, Alice. I couldn’t stop this but I’ll make it right. Please, please, don’t look behind you. It’s better if you don’t.”  
Alice froze, looking at Dipper, who shed a single tear upon watching a yellow aura appear behind Alice. Her eyes widened as the room filled with a strange wind. She smiled a sad, sickening smile. She knew what was about to happen. She accepted it. Alice closed her eyes as she collapsed on the floor, gasping for air.   
“Yellow?”


	10. Chapter 10

"Really? Now? Hah! Haha! Five more intergalactic space bucks for me!” Bill laughed as Dipper ran to Alice, who was laying on the floor, struggling for breath under the shadow of Bill. “I mean. I knew you would figure it out. Smart, like your family. Fun to mess with too. I’m doing the same timeline thing with Mabel. Except it didn’t go as planned…”   
Dipper held Alice’s wrist, checking for a pulse. He didn’t exactly know how to help but he tried. “No no…” Dipper whispered. He kept mumbling, up until Alice’s pulse disappeared, up until no one could hear him mumbling.   
“Gee, Pine Tree, you hardly even knew Alice! I just threw her in because Shooting Star didn’t- “  
“I’m not even a teen yet!” Dipper interrupted. Bill muttered something that Dipper couldn’t hear, but he didn’t care. “Why? Why me? It’s not even- why not some other family? Or better yet, leave everyone alone!”   
Bill started laughing loudly. “You’re the one who keeps fighting back,” Bill flew around Dipper’s head, “It’s amazing! Fun to watch. Do you think I’m going to pass that up?” He stopped and poked Dipper’s chest. “Listen, I need to keep you in these timelines. And that was a threatening speech. Can’t have you being too smart, now can I?”   
Dipper narrowed his eyes at Bill and stood slowly. “Why are you telling me this?” Bill backed up, putting his hands behind his back. He closed his eye for a second before opening it again and extending his hand towards Dipper.   
“Kid,” Blue flames surrounded his hand. “I want to make a deal! You’re doing too well, so I need to erase your mind every once in a while to keep it up. But in return, you get to keep your family with you, always. And they are safe. I won’t kill them. Deal?”   
“With me?” Dipper stared at Bill’s hand. I can see them again   
“Yeperdo. Mabel, Stan, Wendy, Soos. Heck, even Waddles. Your ‘family’ for the summer,” He made sure to use air quotes around “family”. “Whadya say?”  
All of them. Alive. Happy. With me  
Dipper slowly put his hand up. He looked at Bill, worriedly. “You’ll never hurt them? You’ll never make me hurt them, right?”   
“I’ll make sure kid. Don’t you want to see them again? Your sister? Some people never get those chances. Come on Pine Tree. Do we have a deal?”  
Dipper exhaled slowly and extended his hand, thinking of one word and one word only. Together. He knew this is just what had to be done. He took back his hand and started rubbing the back of his head.  
“No, no that’s...that’s dumb. You never keep deals. Like, when you took over my body? Or the thing with Stan. I have no idea what he wanted you to do but you didn’t do it,” Dipper stepped backwards and knelt back down. He felt for something behind the body of Alice, but he couldn’t exactly look. That would be too suspicious.   
“Look, kiddo. I really, really need this. So if you could just...you know. Shake my hand?”   
Dipper scoffed. “Why don’t you just do it, ‘all powerful demon’. Please, just do it.” He finally felt something. Metal. Alice brought it. Just in case something went wrong. He grabbed at it and pulled it behind his back once Bill wasn’t looking.   
“You know the rules. I can’t get into your mind without your say-so. I would literally be destroyed.” He sighed and put his hands on his sides. What if this didn’t work? It would work. Probably. He stood up slowly, holding the pocket knife in his hands. He slowly opened it, not that it helped muffle the sound it made. Bill heard it. He opened his eye and glared at Dipper. Once realizing what he was doing, he started to laugh.   
“Do you have a knife behind your back?” He started laughing harder. Dipper started to back up, looking back and forth at Bill, then the ground again. Bill wiped a non-existent tear from his eye. “That’s priceless! You know you can’t stab me, right? I may have a physical form but, buddy, you can’t get anywhere near me.”   
Bill floated towards Dipper, backing him up to the closed door. Dipper slowly pressed himself to the door and sat, bringing out the knife from behind his back and looking over it. He rubbed his finger over the blade. It wasn’t sharpened.   
“So…I don’t like you.”   
“Ouch,” Bill interrupted.  
“But I want to see my family. They’re dead now so I guess....”  
“So?” The demon shrugged, then looked the knife attentively, studying it. He realized what was going on. “Wait,” He chuckled nervously. “Just make the deal Pine Tree. You’ll see them. I promise.”  
“I don’t trust you,” Dipper looked up at Bill, he pointed the knife directly towards his chest.   
“Kid, honestly, you could upset the balance of nature, everything, explode the world, ka-boom. You have power. These timelines rely on you! I mean not really, but….”  
“You know what? Why do you even need me?”  
“I don’t…” Bill interrupted again, rolling his one eye.   
“Do you want me in these timelines? Couldn’t you do well without me? You know what,” he waved Bill off, “don’t answer me, I don’t care.” He grabbed the knife again with both hand and breathed heavily. I don’t think this is over…he would have let me go if dying didn’t mean something bad for him. Guess I must do it now.   
“P-please! I mean, you could seriously mess everything up. Just give me…” He trailed off as he flew towards the boy, his hand was extended. I guess it’s do and die this time. Dipper exhaled one last time before plunging the knife into his chest. It hurt way more than he was counting on. Dipper squeezed his eyes shut and cried in pain, instinctively pulling out the knife. That didn’t matter much. He would let himself bleed out.   
“What are you?! Crazy?!? You didn’t want to…! Oh!” Bill yelled, putting his hands on his hat. He muttered something that Dipper couldn’t quite hear. His ears were ringing far too loud. He coughed up a liquid that was cold and metallic tasting. Blood. His blood. He slowly felt his grip on reality slip as the room got darker and darker. The pain stopped suddenly and Dipper felt as if he was floating. Which he was. He was in the white room again. Only this time it was different. This time he saw something.   
He saw a yellow glow. And he saw a yellow pine tree.


	11. Chapter 11

The room was of nothing but yellow and white, and, of course, the tree. It wasn’t the same room Dipper had been to many times before. This room was smaller, or so it seemed. However, it also seemed endless. Upward it looked like you could fly or climb forever. Downward, you could fall forever. And every which way you could walk forever.   
Except, Dipper wasn’t walking, or standing. He was floating effortlessly in front of the pulsing, yellow outline of the pine tree. It was his symbol. He knew it. He brought his hand towards the tree, slowly pushing back on it as it grew brighter. Other symbols joined the tree, forming a circle. Startled, he took his hand away. The symbols didn’t disappear, but the pine tree’s light dimmed, so it fit in with the circle.   
He looked around the circle, slightly remembering seeing the figure and its symbols somewhere else. A drawing? A dream? His eyes were caught by the most familiar of the new ones. A shooting star. His sister’s. It had to be. But why was it here? Mabel had worn the shooting star sweater lots of times in Gravity Falls. Bill had even picked up the name for her.   
Dipper thought. If pressing his symbol worked for him, did Mabel have to press hers? He closed his eyes and sighed. He might have needed everyone here to do this. He didn’t even know who else he needed.   
“Uggh…” Dipper let himself flip downward so his back was facing the tree and his head was upside down. Surprisingly, his hat never fell. He slapped both his hands over his closed eyes. “Mabel…”  
Suddenly, he heard a noise in the room, as if something was powering up. He removed one hand and opened his eye. The room was tinted yellow. He looked at the shooting star. It was glowing. Dipper flipped up and looked around before hesitantly putting his hand on the pine tree again. It glowed, but this time he didn’t take his hand off. “Mable,” He yelled out once more. The glow in the room pulsed once or twice, but never dimmed. It was her. He called her!  
He smiled and looked back at the tree. If it was just as easy as saying the name, this was going to be easy. “Wendy?” He looked around. The ice bag symbol lit up, adding to the rooms yellow glow. Dipper thought for a moment, then laughed a bit at the obvious pun. “Ok, Soos!” Another lit up. Dipper closed his eyes, only listening to the sound of ‘powering up’ and watching the darkness in his eyes be slowly replaced with yellow light.  
“Robbie! Pacifica, maybe? Toby…for some odd reason! You might be here too…” With almost every name, the darkness brightened. “Gideon? I don’t know. Stan!” The room was light, but not enough. The light glitched out and in. Dipper opened his eyes and looked down to see all yellow light, except one, which flashed on and off like a broken bulb. Had he forgot someone? No, he mentioned everyone he knew in Gravity Falls. He thought of the last name he spoke.  
“Stan?” The light flashed brighter, but still wouldn’t stay. He rolled his eyes. Maybe it only took full names. “Stanford?” The light flashed brighter again, but this time stayed. The room got brighter and brighter, soon Dipper had to close his eyes. He felt himself being pulled away from the wall the tree sat on, but it wasn’t as if it was forcefully. In fact, he couldn’t tell the difference from when he was still flying and when he started standing. But soon the young boy found himself on ground. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a red room.   
Except it didn’t stay red. It was soon blue. Then orange, yellow, pink. Dipper felt sturdy, like he was being pulled down by gravity instead of having to rely on pure strength to stay down as he had before in rooms. He looked around at the multi-colored room. He soon saw something in the distance. Something small and faint. Something yellow. Dipper squinted to get a better look. Of course, Bill was here, who else would it be. He rolled his eyes.   
“What’s up with you and strange rooms?” He called out, looking at Bill, who started to float forwards.   
“Not my idea to be here bud. Well it is but if I had to choose the room, it would be white again. Just to drive you crazy.”  
“Ah, so that’s why I kept appearing there.”  
“Well duh!” Bill stopped only a few feet in front of Dipper’s face. “I mean, that was my whole goal, right?”  
Dipper shrugged and looked around, crossing his arms. He looked back at Bill. “So, uhh, why is it bad if I, kill myself? Why do you want me in the timelines?”  
“Because,” Bill flipped upside down, his hat, which Dipper suspected was part of body by now, didn’t fall off either, “I like you.”  
Dipper backed up and looked Bill up and down, or down and up. “Thanks, but…”  
“Oh no, wait, no,” Bill interrupted, flipping , “not like that. I just like watching you in pain. It’s fun.”  
“Oh,” Dipper nodded. “That’s not any better.”  
“I mean it’s fun to watch you suffer. Bad for you, good for me. And isn’t the whole part of taking over the world for fun?”  
“Not usually…” Dipper interrupted.  
“And if you die you have an advantage! So just make the deal Pine Tree. You get everything back. Besides, you can’t even see your family here.”  
“Wait, what did you just say?” Dipper walked closer to Bill and uncrossed his arms.  
“Umm, you can’t see your family here?”  
“No, the other thing.”  
“Taking over the world is fun?”  
“No, I mean…” Dipper growled and then sighed. “Nothing, I don’t care.” He rubbed his forehead. It was bad enough just being here. He didn’t really know what was going on. But to be here with Bill? He wasn’t in the mood for Bill’s tricks anymore. Yet, he was glad. He couldn’t figure this situation out himself. He didn’t know what he was feeling. “Look, my number one question right now is, what’s going on?”  
“Welp,” Bill straightened his bow tie and made a cane appear out of thin air, which he rested his arms on. Dipper rolled his eyes. “You’re in the in-between. A short stopping place for those who have passed. Usually, once you die, this is the place where you lose all feeling and become, well, dead. But in your case, your determination, or will to do something, I’m guessing beat me, allowed you to stay at least semi-alive. You’re kind of like a ghost right now.”  
Good. He’s talking. “What about my family?”   
“They’re just dead. They didn’t have that determination. You can’t visit them so long as you stay here. If you make the deal with me you could see them again, that’s the only way.”  
He was talking. Maybe too much. Dipper started to get suspicious, but questioned on. “Right. And couldn’t I just, die?”  
“Your determination won’t let you. You’ll stay here until you beat me. And that’s where this room, this thing, the ‘in-between’, gives you an advantage.” He’s actually going to tell me? “You have the chance to beat me here. The way it works is I would stay alive, for the most part, but how alive could a demon be?” Dipper rolled his eyes. “And you would stay here. You can see me and I think talk to me, kind of like the mind scape, and plain attacks. But you don’t really have a way to beat me unless I come in here, and I’m not stupid enough to do that.”  
Dipper raised an eyebrow. Didn’t Bill realize he was here right now? Just a few feet in front of Dipper? “And why are you telling me this?”  
Bill’s cane vanished. “So you can make the deal.”  
Dipper rolled his eyes again. “I told you that’s dumb.”   
Bill sighed. “What would you rather do? Stay here forever with no purpose? Or be with your family?”  
“If you’re going to erase my mind how do I even know what the deal was?”  
Bill drew in a breath, pointing a finger in the air, but then stopped. He looked downward and stroked under his eye like someone would stroke their chin when they were thinking. “You have a good point. But I promise. I don’t have enough magic to fool around. The in-between treats me like a person for the most part. I have some magic, to fly and make deals, to glow, basically to stay alive and…”  
Bill looked up at Dipper’s grinning face and trailed off. The boy’s hands were in a fist behind his back, but he couldn’t hide it well. “Annndd I’ve said too much, right?”  
“Right,” Bill didn’t have time to react before Dipper punched where he thought Bill’s gut would be. Right above his bow tie. Bill flew back a bit, a hand grazed the floor in front of his kneeling leg. His other leg was outstretched behind him to act as a brake. He looked down and growled softly.   
“Alright, I asked for that. Maybe I made a mistake, but that doesn’t matter because I’m going to get you to make that deal!” He looked up at Dipper as Dipper backed up. Bill suddenly flew over to Dipper at full speed. Dipper cried out in shock and turned around to dodge Bill. He started to run in the opposite direction as Bill turned around. Bill growled once again, spitting out random insults as he often did when he was mad. “You two eyed, pea brained, meat bag!”  
Dipper didn’t have any time to process the words that came from the demon before Bill flew at him again. Dipper could only watch helplessly as he backed himself into a wall. He impulsively closed his eyes as Bill grabbed his vest and ripped it off as he flung Dipper to another wall on the other side of the room. His hat fell off. Dipper’s shoulder hit the wall so hard he heard it crack, but he could do nothing as he fell to the ground. He landed on his stomach and curled slowly into a ball, his trapped arm trying to hold his shoulder.  
“Give up! Really! What do you possibly have to gain by winning this fight Pine Tree? Just make the deal, you’ll be happier when you do.”   
Dipper slowly pushed himself up, leaning against the wall for support. He smiled and held his shoulder up.   
I know it hurts but you’ve got this. A voice that was not his own entered his mind. It was distant, but he recognized it. You can do this, tough stuff. Just try. A playful punch landed on his good shoulder. He smiled more.   
“What’s wrong with two eyes, huh?” Dipper joked. Bill yelled out again and flew towards him. Again. Ok, dodge! Don’t play a hero all the time! Taking the advice of himself for once, Dipper jumped up and closed his eyes, hoping to avoid Bill. Well, it worked. Kind of. Dipper slowly opened his eyes, not feeling himself come back down. He looked around himself at the room. It wasn’t really multi-colored now. It was grey, then white, then black. He looked up, and then down at Bill, who was staring back up at him. Both wouldn’t move. Both in shock.   
“What…” Bill whispered to himself, but it was loud enough for Dipper to hear too. Dipper bit his lip, a bit unnerved by the fact that Bill didn’t know what was happening either. “What?” Bill said again, but louder. Dipper stared at Bill as he snapped his fingers. A tiny blue flame suddenly appeared and disappeared almost as soon as it came. He looked at Dipper again, who just shrugged as if the two were just talking and forgot they were fighting over the fate of the world for a moment.   
Suddenly, his shoulder throbbed again. He remembered. Dipper backed himself into the top corner to figure out his next move, but his thoughts were interrupted by Bill’s laughter. Dipper looked down again to see Bill stop floating. He stood on the ground and snapped again. The same blue flame appeared, wrapping itself around Bill’s hand. But this time it was bigger. This time it didn’t go away.   
“I can trade my power,” he looked at Dipper and chuckled, “for another. Apparently.”  
“Crap,” Dipper leveraged himself off the wall as a blue ball of flames came flying at him. It hit the wall and disintegrated as Dipper tumbled to the floor, not quite understanding how to land when you’re flying. “That doesn’t make any since!”   
“Does anything?” Bill replied as he ran towards Dipper pushing on his bad shoulder as he spun away and pushed himself off the floor again. Dipper shrugged. He put his good hand up on the roof, or roof like surface, and looked at another blue flame ball rushing at him. He pushed himself towards the floor.  
“Hey. So, can I do that?”   
Bill laughed. “Sure you can! If you have fire-proof hands, maybe.” Dipper shoot up again where Bill had planned. A fire ball grazed his bad shoulder, burning off the end of his shirt sleeve. His skin immediately turned pinkish, then red, and then started to bleed. Dipper cried out in pain as he suddenly stopped flying and started to fall. “Whoopsie,” Bill mocked. He punched Dipper’s stomach as he came close enough to touch, which caused Dipper to fly backwards before his head and back abruptly hit the wall.  
The collision knocked the wind out of Dipper, and he fell to the floor on his side. He let a single tear escape his eye and roll down his cheek as he looked up at the figure of Bill, distorted by his tear. He looked down, slowly moving his hands beside his head and pushing upward. He sat up and his head automatically rolled beside him, looking at his fallen hat.  
“Come on kid, you don’t want or need this. Think about it, your family, your friends, everyone else,” Dipper groaned, feeling every wound he had got during traveling of timelines and fights with Bill throb. His head started to pound. He started to feel…lost. This was a lost cause. Was he losing determination?   
Everything will be ok. Another voice. He felt a hand rest over his burn and it immediately started to hurt less. Dipper opened his eyes wider to see that Bill was holding his hand out to Dipper. Probably thinking he was cleverly going to trick him into making a deal. I believe in you. Now you need to believe in you. That makes sense. Dipper smiled. He was right.   
He reached his hand up to Bill and grabbed at his wrist, swinging him towards the wall. He ran over and jumped as Bill snarled. Dipper turned around just in time to dodge a magic attack from Bill. As soon as he turned around, Bill launched another, which Dipper gracefully dodged again.   
“Just stop! Give up! Make the deal! OH MY GOD, what are humans MADE of?!”   
Dipper jumped off the floor and backed himself up into a high corner, looking at Bill, who attempted to shoot another magic attack. It hit the wall next to Dipper as he fell downward and landed not-so-gracefully on his back. He rolled himself over and pushed himself up, looking at Bill, who was now just a little dimmer then he remembered. He squinted at Bill, who fired another attack. Dipper tried to turn and dodge it, but fell short. The lick of flames touched under his elbow.   
Not that he cared much. With every attack, Bill was getting worse. Dipper stepped forward and held his hand out to signal Bill to stop. Bill slowly put down his hand. You need to be smart too. Dipper nodded at the familiar voice. You need to see us again. I have something to tell you.  
Dipper took a deep breath. “Bill…I want to make that deal.”  
Bill stared at Dipper, looking at him up and down. “What made you change your mind?”  
“I’m tired. And it looks like you are too.”  
The demon narrowed his eye at him, looking at him up and down again. Dipper started to sweat. Did Bill know? Suddenly, Bill started to laugh. “Finally!” Dipper breathed a sigh of relief as Bill extended his hand to him, ready to make the deal.   
“But,” Dipper smiled, “on my terms. They actually aren’t bad terms. But you need to promise to uphold this deal.”  
Bill put his hands on his hips. “I have to in here.”   
“What do you mean?”  
“I told you, this place treats me differently. It recognizes I have power, it just won’t let me use it to hurt. And that’s all I will do. I managed to cheat the room with the fire balls, but that took my power. I have enough left to make the deal, but it needs to be a fair deal.” He sighed, letting his arms go limp around his body. “So? What’s the deal?”  
“Ok,” Was this really going to happen? Or is he lying again? Only one way to find out. “Well, I want my family. In a timeline where none of this happens. I want to be with them too.” He held his breath to make sure Bill was listening. Bill nodded and Dipper continued. “It might not be as entertaining here, but once you go global in this timeline, you can find someone else like me. I can’t beat you Bill, this is the closest to a victory I can get. Oh, and you can’t ever hurt me or my family again.”  
Dipper held a hand behind his back, grabbing at the air for something not seen. Let’s see what my determination can do here…   
“Alright, that’s not too bad.” Bill held out his hand again. “So, we have a deal?” Dipper felt something materialize in his hand. He grabbed it. It wasn’t big, but it would work. He smiled for a second, then stopped so Bill didn’t suspect anything.   
“I think we do,” Dipper grabbed Bill’s hand as both the hands caught in a blue flame, bigger than all the others Bill had created. Bill closed his one eye and started to laugh harshly. He opened it again, wider, and red. Symbols flashed inside his eye as he laughed harder, probably thinking he was going to pull off another scam, only benefiting himself. He had thought this through. Well, now Dipper smiled, so had I.   
Dipper brought the pencil around in a circle and dug it deep in the middle of Bill’s eye. Bill’s laughs quickly turned into screams of pain as he let go of Dipper’s hand and pulled the pencil out. He threw it down and quickly closed his eye, putting his hand on his eyelid. Blood poured out from under his eyelid and dipped onto the floor. Dipper laughed and backed up, looking around as the grey room changed faster and faster.   
Bill opened his bloodshot eye and walked towards Dipper, who instantly stopped laughing as Bill got bigger. “Wha…? You should…”   
He backed Dipper into a corner. The young boy crouched as he realized he had nowhere else to go. This was it! Dipper quickly grabbed his hat and put it on before trying to block Bill with his arm. Bill raised as fist as Dipper squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for Bill’s blow to land, knocking the wind out of him or something. Yet, nothing happened. He waited longer. Nothing. Was Bill gone? Dipper opened his eyes again to see Bill towering over him. He tried to hit Dipper again but it was reflected by an invisible force. Well, not quite invisible. It was yellow. And it had a pine tree.  
“COME ON YOU STUPID-!” Bill trailed off into a yell as he punched the air, and every time he tried to punch Dipper, the symbols kept appearing to block it. He summoned fire balls, he kicked, he punched, but nothing happened. “WHY ISN’T THIS WORKING?”  
Dipper started laughing as he slowly stood back up. “It was the deal. It was the deal! It worked! I made the deal! I tricked you.” He walked towards Bill, who kept trying to hurt Dipper somehow. With every attempt, he dimmed, until he was too weak to go on. Dipper kept walking towards him, backing him up into a wall.  
“No, no no! I’m…I’m SORRY! I promise! I was going to uphold the deal! Was it about that? I promise I will! Look! Look! I can give you everything you could ever want! Money, fame, power in your new life! I can make Wendy like you!”  
“That doesn’t matter. You killed hundreds. Probably hundreds of times. There’s no forgiveness for that really.” Dipper stared over Bill. He smiled, forming a fist. “And you made one more fatal move. You messed with my family. There’s really no forgiveness for that either.”   
He brought his final blow down on Bill’s eye, listening to his screams of defiance. The shrieks filled the room. The room even seemed to shriek. Bill grew and shrunk. He changed colors as well, as he continued to beg for all of this to stop. Dipper covered his ears, but it did little to muffle to sounds. Bill started to glitch away from his sides. Bit by bit, until there was nothing left but his bow tie, which fell to the floor and turned to dust. The room shook and changed. From colors to places in Gravity Falls. Even places not in Gravity Falls. With that, the room grew brighter and brighter, windier and windier. Dipper closed his eyes, unmoving.   
A few seconds went by. Dipper couldn’t really feel anything different. He was relaxed. The wind in the room slowly changed to a light breeze on his cheeks. He felt warm, hot, even, but at peace. He felt like he could rest. And he was resting. Dipper slowly opened his eyes to hear the chit-chat of strangers. The room, or wherever he was now, seemed to be filled with life. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was here. He was, on a bus? He chuckled. He was on a bus. The bus to Gravity Falls. The bus to his adventure.  
He suddenly realized he couldn’t move his left arm, only because someone lay on it. He looked down at the sleeping girl. Her hair a mess, her purple hand stitched sweater stuck to her back. Her arm was wrapped around his arm as she slept. He looked out the window at the moving trees. He didn’t know what, or how to feel about what he was doing. He remembered. He had to tell Stan the deal didn’t work out, if he could listen. If he already made the deal.   
What was he going to think? How would he start the conversation? But that could wait. Right now, he had a summer to enjoy. A journal to find. A girl to crush on. A pig to win. A party to crash. A hat to earn.   
The all too familiar sign for Gravity Falls appeared outside the bus window. Dipper smiled softly, tugging on his old baseball cap and genially shaking his right arm. Mabel wearily opened both her eyes and yawned. “Wha…what? Are we there yet?”  
“Yeah,” Dipper chuckled, freeing his arm from his sister’s grasp. He stood up and grabbed the handle on his suitcase. He looked outside at the Gravity Falls sign again. “We’re here, sis. Gravity Falls.”


End file.
